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(princefon  t^cofogtcdf  Seminars 


LIBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


MAY  2  4  2005 


THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2010  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/addressdeliveredOOsout 


AN  ADDRESS 


DELIVERED  BEFORE  THE 


AMERICAN  WHIG  AND  CLIOSOPHIC  SOCIETIES 


or  THE 


COLLEGE  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


September  26, 1887. 


By  SAMUEL  L.  SOUTHARD,  LL.D. 


I>RINCETOJi: 

PtTBLISHED   BY  GEOBGE  THOMPSON. 
1845. 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OF  THE  CLIOSOPHIC  SO- 
CIETY, SEPTEMBER  27th,  1837. 
Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  present  the  thanks  of 
the  Society  to  the  Hon.  Samuel  L.  Southard,  for  the  learned  and  elo- 
quent address  delivered  by  him  yesterday  ;  and  that  he  be  requested  to 
furnish  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication. 

PROF.  MACLEAN,  )  n 

PROF.  A.  B.  DOD,     [  Commttlee. 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OF  THE  AMERICAN  WHIG- 
SOCIETY,  SEPTEMBER  27th,  1837. 
Resolved,  That  a  committee  be  appointed  to  offer  the  thanks  of  the 
Society  to  the  Hon.  Samuel  L.  Southard,  for  the  learned  and  eloquent 
address  delivered  by  him  yesterday;  and  to  request  a  copy  of  the  same 
for  publication. 

RICHARD  S.  FIELD,  Esq.       ) 

REV.  DR.  BRECKINRIDGE,  }  Committee. 

WM.  C.  H.  BROWN,  Esq.       ) 


ADDRESS. 


You  have  called  me  from  the  discharge  of  other  duties  to 
address  you.  The  attempt  to  comply  with  your  request,  has 
renewed  my  impression  of  the  ties  by  which  I  am  bound  to 
this  institution ;  and  my  obligations  to  promote  the  interests 
of  those  who,  like  yourselves,  are  connected  with  it.  The 
retrospect  of  years  which  are  past,  and  the  anticipation  of 
years  which  are  to  come,  conspire  to  make  me  feel,  that 
while  I  am  a  brother,  addressing  brothers  in  literature  and 
friendship,  I  have  other  bonds  to  be  a  faithful  counsellor  to 
the  younger  members  of  these  Societies.  Here,  more  than 
thirty  years  ago,  I  received  an  important  part  of  my  youthful 
training.  I  have  never  been  able  to  recur  to  the  employments 
which  then  occupied  me — to  the  friendships  which  I  formed 
— and  the  literary  and  social  privileges  which  I  enjoyed, 
without  deep  emotion.  The  remembrance  of  them  has  been 
the  companion  of  my  wanderings — the  cause  of  excitement 
in  a  thousand  joyous  interviews — a  stimulus  to  exertion  in 
that  which  was  manly  and  honorable — an  aid  in  the  hour  of 
struggle — and  comfort  in  moments  of  despondency.  I  never 
return  hither,  without  those  times  and  employments  being 
before  me,  as  if  they  were  the  existences  of  the  present,  and 
not  the  almost  forgotten  dreams  of  the  past. 

Here,  too,  I  caused  to  be  educated  those  whom  it  is  my 
natural  duty  to  advise  and  protect.  It.  was  but  twelve  short 
months  ago,  at  our  last  meeting,  that  those  mingled  with  you, 
to  listen  to  the  counsels  which  the  occasion  might  dictate, 
who  constitute  the  all  of  manhood  which  I  shall  ever  give  to 


6 

the  cause  of  literature  and  liberty,  morals  and  human  happi- 
ness. 

For  fifteen  years  too,  it  has  been  my  official  trust,  as  one  of 
the  guardians  of  this  institution,  to  provide  for  the  instruction 
of  those  who  were  committed  to  it ;  to  watch  over  their 
morals  and  secure  to  them  the  lessons  which  should  guide 
them  in  the  paths  of  duty  and  usefulness.  Approaching  you 
under  such  circumstances,  you  will  not  expect  me,  nor  shall 
I  have  either  the  power  or  the  inclination,  to  trifle  with 
matters  of  fancy  or  deal  in  flowers  of  rhetoric. 

But  what  shall  be  my  theme  ?  Shall  it  be,  the  life  of  the 
educated  man — the  past,  with  its  joys  and  its  sorrows — the 
future  with  its  solicitudes,  its  hopes  and  its  duties?  The 
pleasures,  the  obligations,  and  the  appropriate  results  of 
literary  and  scientific  acquirements  ?  The  character,  history, 
and  principles  of  education  which  have  distinguished  this 
seminary,  to  the  benefit  of  our  country  and  the  cause  of 
Christianity  ?  These  might  be  appropriate  topics — but  I  have 
discussed  them  on  former  occasions. 

Shall  1  then  speak  of  the  human  mind ;  its  powers  and 
capacities  for  improvement — their  feebleness  here,  and  their 
steady  progress,  under  proper  culture,  until  they  reach  the 
separating  line,  if  such  there  be,  which  divides  them  from 
higher  and  holier  intelligences ; — powers  and  capacities, 
which  seem  fitted  to  rise,  by  gradation  after  gradation,  until 
they  approach  the  archangel  that  inhabits  near  the  throne  of 
his  Maker?  The  contemplation  would  be  salutary  to  the 
heart  and  to  the  head.  But,  ten  years  ago,  when  your 
societies  first  united  for  this  annual  festival,  your  predecessors 
invited  me  to  lead  the  way,  in  those  addresses  which  were 
intended  to  be  made  profitable  to  you ;  and  I  then  offered  to 
them  the  suggestions  which  I  supposed  useful  on  this  absorb- 
ing theme.  A  different  train  of  reflection,  but  not  uncon- 
nected with  it,  is  now  forced  upon  me.  I  desire  to  address, 
not  my  elder  but  my  younger  brothers  ;  and  to  make  to  them 
a  few  suggestions  upon  a  subject  of  abiding  interest  in  their 
future  career — the  importance  of  the  study  of  the  Bible,  in 


forming  the  character  of  literary  and  scientific  men,  of  scholars 
of  every  grade  and  every  occupation — suggestions,  which  I 
hope,  will  not  be  inappropriate  to  the  first  literary  exercise, 
in  this  edifice,  which  has  been  reared  from  its  ashes,  for  the 
worship  of  the  Author  of  that  Book. 

Be  not  surprised,  nor  dissatisfied,  my  young  friends,  with 
this  annunciation  of  my  subject.  I  do  not  propose  a  full  and 
labored  argument  upon  it.  Such  an  argument  is  quite  too 
broad  for  an  occasional  address.  Nor  shall  I  solicit  your 
attention  to  the  holy  and  sacred  nature  of  that  Book,  to  its 
character  and  features  as  developing  the  depravity  of  our 
nature,  and  the  retributions  which  await  us,  nor  as  exhibiting 
that  "  mystery  of  mysteries"  the  great  atoning  self-sacrifice 
for  human  guilt ;  which  constitute  the  beneficent  purpose  for 
which  it  was  transmitted  to  us.  You  have  elder  brothers, 
here  and  elsewhere,  whose  commission  it  is  to  hold  up  these 
features  before  you ;  and  who  may  safely  touch  and  sustain 
the  ark  of  the  covenant.  My  object  is,  to  urge  you  to  study 
it,  for  other,  though  inferior  considerations. 

What  are  you?  what  is  your  situation?  Students;  scholars; 
with  eminent  advantages  for  acquiring  beneficial  knowledge 
— bound  by  imperative  obligation  to  acquire  it,  and  thus 
render  yourselves  respected  and  happy,  and  practically  useful 
to  your  less  favored  fellow  men.  This  obligation  you  ac- 
knowledge—this duty  you  feel.  To  doubt  that  you  thus 
acknowledge  and  feel,  would  be  an  insult  to  your  understand- 
ings and  a  reproach  to  your  hearts.  May  not  the  study  of 
the  Bible  be  made  serviceable  in  enlarging  the  circle  of  your 
knowledge  ? — strengthening  your  powers  ? — giving  you  safe 
principles  of  action  ?  and  fitting  you  successfully  to  serve  the 
society  in  which  your  lot  may  be  cast  ?  Let  us  endeavor  to 
find  an  answer  to  these  questions. 

What  is  the  Bible?  It  purports  to  be  a  communication 
from  the  all-knowing  and  eternal  Mind  of  the  universe.  A 
record  of  our  race— of  our  creation — powers — capacities  and 
destiny.  Its  claims,  in  these  respects,  demand  for  it  an 
earnest  attention.     Its  origin,  preservation  and  existence,  at 


the  present  moment,  is  a  standing,  perpetual  miracle.  A 
great  part  of  it  was  written  more  than  three  thousand  two 
hundred  years  ago  :  and  all  of  it,  has  been  of  nearly  eighteen 
hundred  years  duration.  For  centuries  the  art  of  printing 
gave  no  aid  in  multiplying  copies  and  preserving  it.  Yet 
from  the  time  when  its  first  pages  were  written,  it  has  been 
handed  down,  from  age  to  age,  protected  in  its  integrity  and 
purity — undefaced,  unmutilated  and  almost  unaltered.  And 
where  are  the  writings  of  the  nations,  cotemporaneous  with 
its  origin  ?  of  Assyria,  and  Chaldea,  and  Egypt  ?  of  all  those 
which  preceded  Greece  and  Rome  ?  They  perished  with 
their  authors,  or  were  lost  in  the  wasting  of  their  nations. 
Where  are  the  writings  of  Greece  ?  A  part,  and  a  part  only 
remain.  Of  the  four  hundred  works  of  Aristotle,  one  of  the 
great  masters  of  human  reasoning,  and  the  merits  of  which 
would  create  a  desire  to  save  them,  but  about  forty  have 
reached  us,  and  even  of  these,  some  are  broken,  and  of  others 
the  genuineness  is  questioned.  Not  one-hundredth — perhaps 
not  one-thousandth  part,  of  the  precious  literature  of  that  land 
of  poetry,  eloquence  and  philosophy,  has  escaped  the  wreck 
of  her  liberty  and  national  existence.  Rome  was  the  suc- 
cessor— the  imitator — the  competitor — the  survivor  of  Greece 
in  literature  ;  yet  few  of  her  works,  which  were  her  pride 
and  her  glory,  survive.  She  was,  for  a  long  period,  the 
keeper  of  the  Book  of  the  Cross,  as  she  was  of  the  literary 
productions  of  her  citizens.  Yet  it  remains  and  they  have 
perished.  The  dramas  of  Livius  Andronicus  were  the  first 
regular  compositions  in  Latin,  of  which  we  have  any  record. 
Where  are  they  ?  Where  are  the  works  of  Ennius,  Naevius, 
Pacuvius  and  others  ?  We  retain  a  line  of  one  of  them — 
Laetus  sum,  laudari  abs  te,  pater,  laudato  vlro :  of  others 
there  is  little  of  any  substantial  value.  Where  are  the  works 
of  Cato,  except  his  de  re  Rustica  ?  Of  Varro  ?  Of  all  those, 
to  whom  Cicero  in  de  Claris  Oratorlbus,  refers  ?  Of  some 
even  of  his  own  more  perfect  productions  ?  Where  are  the 
works  on  natural  philosophy  and  the  sister  sciences,  mathe- 
matics and  geometry,  which  have  been  called  the  implements 


of  natural  philosophy?  They  were  in  existence  when  the 
Origines  of  Cato  were  written,  yet  now  Quae  reliquiae  7 
quodve  vestigium  ? 

Why  the  difference  as  to  this  book  ?  For  many  hundred 
years,  copies  were  not  multiplied  and  scattered,  so  that  the 
ordinary  causes  of  decay  and  destruction  could  not  reach 
them.  Yet  the  flames  which  have  consumed  palaces  and 
cottages  and  libraries  have  left  it  unharmed.  The  eruptions 
of  the  volcano  have  not  buried,  and  the  more  terrible  devas- 
tations, of  the  barbarian  have  not  destroyed  it.  The  siege, 
and  sacking,  and  utter  desolation  of  the  capital,  and  the 
scattering  to  the  utmost  ends  of  the  earth,  of  the  nation  to 
whom  it  was  committed,  defaced  not  one  of  its  features.  The 
temple  was  destroyed,  but  the  laws  written  upon  its  tables, 
were  not  abrogated  nor  erased.  The  Cross  is  the  essence 
and  the  emblem  of  the  record ;  and  while  all  around  the  place 
where  it  was  erected,  utterly  perished,  that  record,  in  all  its 
perfectness,  was  protected.  Whether  it  be  true  or  not,  that 
TOTTfi  NIK  A  was  written,  over  that  ensign,  in  letters  of  fire 
upon  the  heavens,  and  conducted  the  first  Christian  Emperor 
to  victory,  it  is  true  that  the  doctrines  of  this  book  were 
planted  by  the  throne,  and  extended  wide  as  the  empire,  of 
the  Cesars ;  and  yet  when  that  empire  fell  and  expired  be- 
neath the  scourge  of  the  northern  hordes  and  the  scimetar  of 
the  Mohammedan,  this  book  with  its  text  and  its  doctrines 
continued  to  live  ;  its  energies  were  renewed,  and  it  is  still 
the  same  as  when  Constantine  became  its  advocate.  It  has 
passed  through  times  of  literary  and  moral  darkness  as  well 
as  light — of  barbarism  as  well  as  civilization — through  pe. 
riods  of  enmity,  as  well  as  friendship,  to  its  contents — and 
crossed  that  oblivious  gulf  which  divides  the  modern  from  the 
ancient  literary  world,  and  where  lies  covered  up,  forever,  so 
much  of  the  literature  and  science  of  the  nations.  Other 
books  have  perished  when  there  was  no  hostility  to  their 
doctrines  ;  this  has  survived  when  the  arm  of  power  was 
stretched  out,  and  every  human  passion  exerted  for  its  de- 
struction. 


10 

It  has  survived  too,  with  no  essential  alterations,  and  re- 
quiring, comparatively,  few  learned  emendations  of  its  text. 
Take  into  your  estimate  the  magnitude  of  the  work,  and  the 
multitude  of  the  copies  which  curiosity  and  piety,  through 
so  long  a  period,  have  made,  and  the  changes  in  its  words 
and  expressions  will  be  found  so  few  as  to  create  astonish- 
ment. It  has  been  translated  into  the  languages  of  all  nations 
who  have  professed  its  religious  faith — been  subjected  to  In- 
terpolating Commentaries — Talmuds  and  Paraphrases — 
Masoretic  Punctuations — Critical  Collections — Dissertations 
— Compilations — by  the  primitive  Fathers — half  pagan  Chris- 
tians— Catholics  and  sectarian  Protestants — and  yet  its  text 
has  been  rescued  from  them  all.  Its  variae  lectiones  are  less 
numerous  than  those  of  any  other  ancient  work,  which  has 
been  subjected  to  any  thing  like  equal  exposure.  It  has 
called  for  commentaries  upon  its  meaning,  and  they  may  be 
piled  volume  upon  volume,  before  human  wisdom  shall  have 
searched  out  all  its  stores  of  knowledge.  Filled,  as  it  is,  with 
modes  of  speech  belonging  to  Asiatic  languages ;  with  allu- 
sions to  arts  which  are  lost ;  to  nations  which  are  extinct ;  to 
customs  gone  by  ;  and  treating  of  counsels  which  are  not  yet 
fully  developed :  humble  piety  united  to  all  learning  may 
continue  to  expend  their  force  upon  it ;  but  what  was  written, 
remains  written  still ;  and  so  written,  that  all  may  read  and 
understand  it.  You  know  that  Egypt  was  learned  and 
scientific.  She  was  so,  while  Greece  was  yet  barbarian,  and 
Rome  was  without  a  name.  But  the  denunciation  was  ut- 
tered against  her — the  Assyrian — the  Persian — the  Greek — 
the  Roman — the  Arabian — the  Turk — came.  Nation  after 
nation  has  trodden  her  down,  and  we  grope  among  her 
pyramids  and  her  ruins  for  expositions  of  her  knowledge  and 
her  religion.  Her  history,  and  literature,  and  science,  doubt- 
less had  their  written  evidences  and  records ;  yet  what  re- 
mains except  that  which  is  contained  in  the  hieroglyphics 
upon  her  monuments  and  in  her  temples — and  who  can  read 
and  explain  them  ?  Who  shall  give  us  assurance  that  we 
shall  ever  be  able  fully  to  comprehend  the  knowledge  which 


11 

they  contain  and  were  intended  to  convey  ?  They  will  pro- 
bably never  be  read,  so  that  all,  even  of  the  learned,  shall 
agree  in  their  language,  much  less  in  their  meaning. 

This  is  true  not  only  in  regard  to  ancient  writings,  but  to 
many  which  are  not  old.  Shakspeare  is  not  alone  in  this 
predicament.  It  is  not  yet  two  centuries  and  a  half,  since 
Romeo  and  Juliet,  and  Richard  the  second  and  third,  (his  first 
plays  of  whose  date  we  have  certain  knowledge)  were  writ- 
ten, and  yet,  Warburton  and  Farmer,  Hanmer  and  Rowe, 
Pope  and  Theobald,  Upton  and  Grey,  Stevens,  and — more 
than  all  the  rest — Johnson,  have  devoted  years  of  labor  to 
restore  his  text,  and  tell  us  what  he  did  write.  Why  has  it 
required  comparatively  so  little  labor  to  restore  and  preserve 
the  purity  of  this  volume,  which  is  so  much  older  and  has 
encountered  so  much  greater  trials  ?  Why  was  it  that  the 
Jews  to  whom  "  the  law  and  the  prophets"  were  first  com- 
mitted, should  have  manifested  such  diligence,  when  it  was 
transcribed  or  copied,  that  they  even  counted  the  number  of 
letters  and  compared  and  recorded  them  ?  Why  has  it  come 
down,  through  centuries,  when  all  else  has  been  subject  to 
alteration  and  change  and  destruction  ?  The  only  answer? 
which  even  infidelity  can  reasonably  give,  is  to  be  found  in 
the  writing  itself,  and  in  the  guardianship  of  its  own  all-pow- 
erful Author,  who  has  protected  it  by  his  providence,  and 
shielded  it,  by  the  terrible  denunciation  with  which  it  closes, 
against  him  who  shall  add  to,  or  take  away  from  "  the  words 
of  the  prophecy" — "  God  shall  take  away  his  part  out  of  the 
book  of  life." 

Have  you  no  desire  to  become  thoroughly  conversant  with 
so  remarkable  a  work  ?  To  learn  by  a  study  of  its  contents, 
why  it  should  have  been  thus  protected  and  preserved  ?  If 
some  literary  relic  of  an  ancient  genius  were  dug  up  from  the 
ruins  of  Herculaneum  or  Pompeii,  your  curiosity  would  be 
excited,  and  you  would  labor  at  its  pages  with  assiduity  and 
zeal.  Here  is  a  Book  older  and  better  preserved  than  any 
which  the  lava  of  Vesuvius  or  Etna  ever  entombed,  and  con- 
taining more  and  better  learning  than  all  the  literature  and 


12 

philosophy  of  the  ancient  world  combined.    Will  you  not 
read,  examine  and  study  it  ? 

Its  writing  and  contents  are  worthy  of  its  origin  and  his- 
tory. The  first  part  of  it  was  written  in  Hebrew,  the  second 
in  Greek,  unless  we  except  the  book  of  Matthew,  which  was 
possibly  written  in  Hebrew,  and  translated  into  Greek  by 
himself  or  some  other  under  his  inspection.  These  languages 
were  familiar  to  those  who  wrote,  and  those  by  whom  it  was 
to  be  first  used.  Its  various  portions  are  from  the  pens  of 
about  thirty  individuals,  living  at  different  times,  through  a 
space  of  fourteen  hundred  years,  and  thus  separated,  in  age, 
from  each  other.  Yet  the  similarity  of  their  language,  style 
and  idioms  exhibits  a  literary  phenomenon.  The  same  sim- 
ilarity on  these  points,  does  not  exist,  in  the  same  number  of 
writers,  in  any  language,  age,  or  country,  varying  only  ac- 
cording to  the  subject  matter  which  is  treated.  Test  this  as- 
sertion for  yourselves,  by  comparing  the  passages  which  have 
reference  to  the  same  subjects,  or  require  the  same  mode  of 
writing.  You  will  find  the  narrative  of  facts — the  declaration 
of  moral  principles  and  rules  of  action — the  exhibition  of  inci- 
dents which  portray  the  feelings  and  excite  sensibility — the 
developments  of  religious  faith  and  practice — the  annuncia- 
tions of  the  character,  providence  and  government  of  God, 
from  one  end  of  that  vast  volume  to  the  other,  as  if  the  same 
individual  had  spoken  and  written  them.  There  are  no  such 
incongruities  as  the  Koran  contains,  where  the  sublimest  ideas 
and  expressions  are  mingled  with  the  lowest  and  most  vulgar; 
sometimes,  as  the  sceptical  Gibbon  remarks,  crawling  in  the 
dust,  and  at  other  times,  lost  in  the  clouds.  The  Bible  is, 
throughout,  a  consistent  whole,  in  style  and  substance.  From 
the  simple,  unadorned,  yet  sublime  account  of  the  creation 
"in  the  beginning,"  to  the  Revelation  at  Patmos,  of  that 
which  shall  be,  we  seem  to  find  the  same  pen,  the  same  intel- 
lect, the  same  heart.  Was  this  accident  ?  Why  did  not  the 
accident  occur  with  other  men,  and  in  other  lands?  The 
writers  differed  as  widely  as  possible  in  station,  employment 
and  human  learning  :  the  favored  foundling  of  the  princess  of 


13 

Egypt — the  old  man  of  Uz — the  poet  of  Israel — Solomon  on 
his  throne  of  glory — the  seers  of  Judah  and  Jerusalem — the 
fishermen  of  Galilee — the  pupil  of  Gamaliel— the  disciple 
who  lay  on  the  neck  of  Jesus — why  did  all  these  think  and 
write  so  much  alike  ?  Do  you  not  believe  that  you  would  be 
abundantly  rewarded  for  the  labor,  which  would  enable  you 
to  answer  this  inquiry  ? 

This  labor  will  teach  you  another  fact  which  may  be  use- 
ful to  you.  The  writings  of  these  men  have  been  translated 
into  your  own  language,  by  those  who  were  familiar  with  the 
original  tongues,  and  in  the  daily  habit  of  using  that  portion 
of  ours,  which  is  derived  from  others,  yet  they  cautiously 
avoid  words,  phrases,  and  idioms,  which  were  drawn  from 
the  peculiarities  of  other  languages ;  and  their  translation  is 
a  purer  specimen  of  English  or  Anglo-Saxon,  than  any 
other  book,  written  in  their  own  day,  or  at  any  subsequent 
time.  The  copy  which  you  now  use  has  been  approved,  as 
the  most  accurate,  by  men  of  learning,  of  all  sects  and  denom- 
inations, for  two  hundred  and  twenty-six  years.  It  was 
made  under  judicious  orders  of  the  British  monarch,  James 
the  first,  in  1607,  by  forty -seven  able  and  learned  scholars  of 
Westminster,  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  They  felt  the  absolute- 
ly sacred  nature  of  the  office  conferred  upon  them,  and  neither 
"  coveting  the  praise  of  expedition,  nor  fearing  the  reproach 
of  slackness,"  gave  us  a  faithful  translation  of  the  original, 
true  to  its  spirit,  and  a  standard  of  the  purity  and  excellence 
of  our  own  language.  Numberless  passages  might  be  quoted 
to  prove  this  assertion.  I  refer  you  to  a  single  one.  The 
Lord's  prayer  contains  but  three  or  four  words  which  can  be 
traced  to  any  other  than  an  Anglo-Saxon  origin. 

The  Bible  is,  in  this  respect,  a  literary  curiosity,  and  a  fit 
study,  for  you,  as  American  scholars,  who  must  use  that  lan- 
guage, to  communicate  to  your  fellow  men,  the  knowledge 
which  you  may  acquire.  Every  scholar  should  desire  to 
understand  and  write  his  own  language  with  purity  and 
force.  The  tongue  of  every  nation  has  its  peculiarities,  and 
is  moreover  suited  to   their   general  character,  and  to   the 

2 


14 

current  of  ideas  and  modes  of  thought  among  the  people. 
You  may  study  the  character  of  nations  in  the  languages 
which  they  speak.  It  was  so,  in  old  time,  with  the  He- 
brew, the  Greek  and  the  Latin ;  and  it  is  so  now,  with  the 
Italian  and  French,  the  Spanish  and  English.  And  those 
have  written  and  spoken,  with  most  power  to  their  country- 
men, who  have  written  and  spoken  their  own  language  with 
most  purity  and  propriety.  This  is  a  truth  which  you  ought 
not  to  overlook  in  your  aspirations  for  distinction,  and  your 
desire  for  usefulness.  Oar  Anglo-Saxon  is  plain,  strong, 
beautifully  simple,  and  admirably  suited  to  the  true  character 
of  the  race,  of  which  you  form  a  part ;  and  the  more  purely 
you  speak  and  write  it,  the  more  efficient  will  you  become  as 
writers  and  speakers.  Examples  living  and  dead,  support 
this  remark.  Swift,  Hall,  Marshall  and  Madison,  will  be 
read  and  admired,  when  the  lengthened  exotics,  of  many 
others  shall  have  found  their  appropriate  position,  as  evi- 
dences of  false  taste  and  want  of  judgment.  And  if  I  may  be 
permitted,  without  offence  to  any,  to  suggest  a  comparison 
between  living  scholars  and  orators,  take  Webster,  distin- 
guished among  the  senators  of  his  own  country  ;  and  Brough- 
am, the  first  in  genius  and  capacity  in  the  British  house  of 
Lords.  They  are  equals,  perhaps,  in  the  higher  qualities  of 
intellect,  yet  every  sound  scholar  will  give  preference  to  the 
former,  in  the  style  and  power  with  which  his  argument  is 
exhibited.  The  difference,  to  a  great  extent,  arises  from  the 
difference  of  their  language.  Webster  is  one  of  the  purest 
Anglo-Saxon  speakers  with  whom  I  am  acquainted.  His 
ideas  are  clear  as  light,  to  those  whom  he  addresses,  because 
they  are  presented  with  simplicity  of  words  and  phrases,  and 
without  the  superfluous  drapery  which  is  borrowed  from 
other  languages.  If  you  regard  your  own  reputation  as 
speakers,  I  cannot  urge  too  strongly  upon  you,  an  early  and 
diligent  devotion  to  this  characteristic  of  style.  My  own 
errors  lead  me  to  become  your  counsellor  on  this  point.  But 
do  not  misunderstand  me,  and  misconstrue  my  meaning  in  re- 
lation to  it.     I  mean  not  to  condemn  the  diligent  study  of  the 


15 

ancient  languages,  from  which  so  many  additions  have  been 
made  to  ours,  nor  the  use  of  many  words  whose  etymology 
runs  back  to  them.  I  am  not  yet  relieved  from  my  prejudices 
in  their  favor,  nor  so  very  wise  as  to  regard  their  study  as 
waste  of  time.  Your  reading  of  the  classical  languages  and 
writers  ought  to  be  thorough,  both  for  the  discipline  of  your 
judgment,  taste  and  style,  and  for  a  correct  understanding,  not 
only  of  what  is  derived  from  them,  but  of  the  very  structure 
and  use  of  all  language. 

The  study  of  the  Bible  is  an  efficient  means  of  acquiring 
correct  language  and  style ;  not  studying  it,  to  borrow  its 
phrases,  and  profusely  quote,  on  all  occasions,  its  inimitable 
passages — a  practice  which  savors  little  of  good  taste  or  reve- 
rential feeling — but  studying  it,  to  become  imbued  with  its 
simplicity  and  force  and  elevation.  Its  unaffected  narrative 
— unadorned  pathos — pointed  invective — picturesque  and 
graphic  description — plain  yet  magnificent  energy,  cannot  be 
thoroughly  comprehended  without  appropriate  effects  upon 
your  taste  and  judgment.  Observe,  for  example,  the  preach- 
ers of  the  gospel.  The  manner  in  which  its  allurements  are 
depicted — its  admonitions  uttered,  and  its  threatenings  de- 
nounced by  them,  will  indicate  to  you  the  source  from  which 
they  have  derived  their  reasonings  and  illustrations — whether 
directly  from  the  fountain  of  living  truth,  or  the  stagnant  pools 
of  human  commentaries.  They  who  have  aided  their  style 
and  modes  of  thought  by  diligent  study  of  this  work,  if  they 
do  not  rise  to  the  first  grade  of  excellence,  never  sink  to  inferi- 
ority. Observe,  again,  two  comparatively  unlettered  men ; 
laborious  in  their  employments  and  altogether  without  the 
adornments  of  literature.  If  one  diligently  reads  the  Bible, 
and  becomes  familiar  with  its  language  and  expressions,  and 
the  other  never  opens  it,  you  may  tell  the  fact,  by  the  superi- 
ority of  the  former,  in  his  ordinary  manner  of  conversation, 
even  upon  topics  unconnected  with  the  doctrines  of  the  Book. 
The  same  fact  is  illustrated  by  two  schools,  in  one  of  which  it 
is  sedulously  taught,  and  in  the  other,  is  never  read.  You 
cannot  converse  with  the  scholars,  without  remarking  the 
contrast. 


16 

There  is  cause,  I  think,  to  rebuke  those  who  have  written 
and  lectured  on  style  and  composition,  that  among  the  authors 
and  books  recommended,  the  Bible  is  so  seldom  pressed  upon 
the  consideration  of  the  student.  There  is  no  one  superior  to 
it,  in  examples  suited  to  correct  and  discipline  the  taste. 
There  are  no  works  of  human  genius  containing  finer  pas- 
sages. Search  the  volumes  of  fiction,  of  poetry  and  elo- 
quence, and  produce  the  passages  most  justly  admired,  and 
their  equals  and  superiors  may  be  readily  found  in  this  work. 
Herodotus  and  Xenophon  do  not  surpass  it,  in  the  simplicity 
and  beauty  of  their  narrative,  nor  Homer  in  the  splendor  and 
sublimity  of  his  descriptions.  Compare,  for  yourselves,  the 
unornamented  yet  intensely  sublime  account  which  is  given 
of  the  creation  of  the  world  and  of  man,  in  the  commence- 
ment of  the  volume,  with  any  and  all  the  efforts  of  pagan  or 
Christian  writers.  Compare  the  noblest  pages  in  Homer,  those 
in  which  he  portrays  the  majesty  and  government  of  Jupiter, 
and  his  interference  in  the  conflict  of  contending  armies,  with 
the  annunciation  of  the  attributes  of  the  Christian's  God,  by 
Job,  Isaiah  and  their  fellow  penmen,  and  with  the  manifesta- 
tions of  his  power,  at  every  step,  as  he  led  the  Israelites  from 
bondage  to  dominion.  Compare  the  clouds  and  thunder  and 
scales  of  Olympus,  with  the  awful  exhibition  at  Sinai,  and  the 
destruction  of  the  enemies  of  his  chosen  people  not  only  in 
their  journeyings  but  at  subsequent  periods  of  their  his- 
tory. Make  your  comparison  as  extensive  as  you  please, 
upon  any  and  every  subject  embraced  in  it,  and  apply  the 
most  rigid  rules  of  criticism,  and  you  will  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion, that  in  correctness,  energy,  eloquence  and  dignity  of 
composition,  it  is  without  a  rival.  Why,  then,  shall  it  be  dis- 
regarded by  the  scholar  who  is  ambitious  of  excellence  in 
writing  and  speaking  ? 

You  know  that  a  notion  has  often  prevailed,  that  it  ought 
to  be  translated  anew,  and  adapted  to  what  is  called  modern 
refinement  in  style.  I  can  perceive  no  great  wisdom  in  this 
opinion.  The  experiments  heretofore  made  have  given  little 
encouragement  to  renew  the  effort,  and  I  trust  none  of  you 


17 

will  be  found  aiding  in  its  renewal.  It  results  very  much 
from  overweening  vanity  in  its  authors,  who  have  not  yet 
proved  that  they  are  competent  to  correct  the  errors  of  the 
learned  men,  who  gave  it  to  us,  as  it  is.  And  even  if  it  were 
more  defective,  I  would  not  subject  it  to  the  hazard  of  correc- 
tion. It  is  venerable  for  its  age,  beautiful  in  its  simplicity, 
and  masculine  in  its  energy.  And  what  is  more  than  all  this, 
British  and  American  Christians — a  very  large  and  evangeliz- 
ing part  of  the  Christian  world — have  for  centuries  thought 
by  its  language,  worshipped  and  communed  with  their  Maker 
and  their  Saviour  in  its  words  and  phraseology.  It  is  profa- 
nation to  disrobe  it  of  its  sanctity,  and  cruelty  to  deprive  them 
of  their  accustomed  medium  of  holy  intercourse. 

The  style  of  the  Scriptures  is  admirable,  and  you  have  it, 
in  a  language  worthy  of  all  acceptation ;  a  language,  in 
which  the  great  truths  of  the  only  true  religion  have  been  ex- 
hibited with  a  power  as  strong,  and  an  eloquence  as  fervid, 
as  in  any  other.  And  that  language  commends  itself  to  your 
affections  as  the  only  one  under  heaven,  in  which  legalized 
civil  liberty  has  ever  spoken  among  the  children  of  men. 
Religion  combined  with  liberty,  founded  upon  and  protected 
by  written  law,  has,  thus  far,  used  it  and  it  alone ;  and  in 
the  progress  of  human  events,  it  does  seem  destined  to 
carry  them  forward  to  the  perfect  emancipation  of  the  human 
race ;  when  praise  from  the  islands  shall  mingle  with  the 
anthems  of  the  continents,  and  when  mountain  shall  answer 
unto  mountain,  and  echo  back  the  rejoicings  of  freedom  in  the 
plains. 

But  it  is  not  alone  for  these  reasons  that  I  urge  this  study 
upon  you.  It  will  greatly  enlarge  your  knowledge  and  guide 
you  to  the  acquisition  of  that  which  is  useful.  No  human 
work  contains  so  much  which  it  is  important  to  know.  There 
is  a  fund  of  real  information  in  it  which  no  man  can  estimate, 
who  has  not  carefully  examined  it,  page  by  page,  compared 
it  with  what  he  has  learned  from  other  sources,  and  tried  it 
by  the  established  principles  of  science  and  evidence.  You 
must  not,  however,  expect  to  find  in  it,  details  of  philosophy, 


18 

and  dissertations  on  the  sciences.  It  was  written  with  no 
such  purpose.  It  does  not  deal  in  speculations  and  theories, 
nor  in  scientific  demonstrations,  but  in  facts,  principles  and 
doctrines;  and  the  combination  of  these  forms  its  system. 
They  relate  to,  are  connected  with,  and  serve  to  establish  and 
illustrate,  Geology,  Astronomy,  Philosophy,  Jurisprudence, 
Geography,  History,  and  Chronology ;  subjects  of  necessary 
and  indispensable  learning  to  the  scholar  :  and  you  may  rely 
without  hesitation,  on  their  accuracy  and  truth.  Infidelity 
and  hostile  religions  have  tried  their  powers  in  vain,  to  detect 
untruths,  misrepresentations  and  mistakes.  Their  assaults 
have  been  most  successfully  repelled.  The  sneers  of  some, 
and  the  arguments  of  others,  as  to  the  age  of  the  world,  and 
the  deluge ;  and  the  malignant  wit  and  ridicule  of  Shaftsbury 
and  Voltaire  and  Paine,  against  its  facts  and  doctrines,  have 
been  triumphantly  refuted  by  the  very  developments  of 
science  itself;  the  refutation  is  becoming,  hour  by  hour,  more 
complete  and  overwhelming :  and  if  its  language  and  con- 
tents be  fairly  dealt  with,  its  character  will  not  be  disturbed, 
by  any  investigations  of  avowed  enemies  or  doubting  friends. 
Many  of  the  assaults  which  have  been  made  upon  it,  espe- 
cially those  of  recent  date,  profess  to  find  countenance  in 
Geology  ; — and  want  of  caution  in  Christian  Philosophers  has 
given  them  currency.  Discoveries  in  that  science  are  sup- 
posed to  have  established  facts  inconsistent  with  the  Mosaic 
account  of  the  creation  and  the  deluge.  You  will,  to  a  great- 
er or  less  extent,  pursue  the  study  of  Geology  here,  and  as 
you  are  engaged  in  the  business  of  life.  It  is  assuming  a 
character  of  intense  interest,  in  all  the  concerns  of  society,  and 
will  greatly  promote  the  comfort  and  prosperity  of  mankind  ; 
but  do  not  pervert  it  to  their  injury,  by  making  it  an  instru- 
ment to  unsettle  a  faith,  more  important  to  liberty  and  happi- 
ness, than  all  the  acquisitions  which  science  can  ever  make. 
Properly  investigated  it  furnishes  satisfactory  evidence  that 
the  Christian's  God  made  the  earth  as  he  spread  out  the 
heavens.  It  ought  to  lead  you,  step  by  step,  to  him,  and  to 
the  acknowledgment  of  his  creating  energy.  The  earth  is  a 
great  laboratory,  where  not  only  a  creating  but  a  sustaining 


19 

power,  and  a  skill  equal  to  that  power,  have  impressed  and 
continue  the  immutable  laws  of  matter.  It  furnishes  to  my 
mind  an  answer  more  potent  than  miracles,  to  the  atheist's 
crime  and  the  sceptic's  folly.  Its  teeming  wonders  ;  its  sur- 
face of  mountain  and  of  vale  ;  its  oceans  with  their  mighty 
depths,  designed  for  the  sustenance  of  animated  nature ;  the 
formation  of  its  minerals ;  the  fires  of  the  volcano  ;  the  thou- 
sand chemical  combinations  which  act  upon  its  fluid  as  well 
as  solid  portions,  and  all  fitted  to  accomplish  and  carry  for- 
ward the  purposes  of  its  formation,  cannot  be  studied  without 
enlarging  your  capacity  for  usefulness,  and  giving  you  a 
better  apprehension  of  his  attributes  who  made  them  all. 
But  let  not  your  investigations  become  weapons  to  impugn 
the  only  account  which  has  given  you  any  light  in  regard  to 
their  creation.  Be  not  wise  beyond  that  which  is  written. 
The  words  of  God,  are  a  living  and  faithful  commentary  upon 
his  works,  to  illustrate  their  meaning  and  enforce  their  truth. 
And  the  conscientious  Christian  should  feel  no  dread  of  this 
or  any  other  science,  nor  any  wish  to  arrest  its  progress.  In- 
vestigation, directed  to  the  earth,  the  air,  the  ocean  or  the 
heavens,  can  reveal  no  facts  calculated  to  unsettle  his  faith. 

The  argument  which  has  been  drawn  from  Geology 
amounts  to  this  and  nothing  more.  There  are  formations  of 
earths,  rocks  and  minerals,  which  by  the  ordinary  process  of 
addition,  concretion  and  crystalization  could  not  have  been 
brought  to  their  present  state,  within  the  period  fixed  by 
Moses  for  the  creation,  and  therefore  his  account  must  be  un- 
true. But  is  it  not  obvious  that  this  argument  is  destitute  of 
force,  unless  they  can  establish  three  positions — that  the  writer 
of  Genesis  declares  when  the  matter  of  the  earth  was  formed 
— that  the  creation  spoken  of  consisted  solely  of  the  formation 
of  matter  and  of  the  principles  which  were  to  bring  it  into  its 
present  state — and  that  these  principles  have  had  one  uniform 
action,  as  to  time  and  place,  from  the  beginning  to  the  present 
hour,  forever  the  same  and  forever  acting  with  the  same 
rapidity.  Yet  no  one  of  these  positions  can  they  support  by 
any  light  which  genius  or  science  has  yet  afforded.  The 
Bible  neither  affirms  nor  denies  them.     Its  object  was,  not  so 


20 

much,  to  give  the  history  of  matter,  as  of  mind.  Not  so 
much  to  tell  us  when,  as  why  the  world  was  formed — to  show 
its  preparation  and  fitness  for  the  temporary  and  probation- 
ary residence  of  undying  spirits,  and  display,  before  us  and 
all  intelligences,  the  divine  wisdom,  power  and  beneficence. 
Hence  we  are  only  informed,  that  "  In  the  beginning,  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth ;"  but  we  are  not  told 
when  that  beginning  was,  nor  how  long  the  earth  was  with- 
out form  and  void,  darkness  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  and 
the  Spirit  of  God  moving  upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  When 
man  was  to  be  formed,  he  divided  the  light  from  the  darkness 
— made  the  firmament — separated  the  dry  land  from  the  gath- 
ering together  of  the  waters — commanded  the  earth  to  bring 
forth — fixed  the  lights  of  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars  to  rule 
over  the  day  and  the  night — filled  the  water  and  the  land 
with  animate  and  inanimate  things,  and  then  placed  man  up- 
on it.  But  in  what  condition  was  it  then  ?  Will  the  unbe- 
liever tell  us  ?  Was  it  the  same  rudis  indigestaque  moles, 
as  in  the  beginning  ?  Chaos  and  darkness  had  given  place  to 
order  and  light.  Was  the  soil  to  be  formed,  through  a  process 
of  years  ?  The  herbage  was  already  ripe  for  the  sustenance 
of  the  full  grown  animals  which  passed  before  Adam  to 
receive  their  names,  and  the  trees  and  flowers  and  fruits  of 
the  garden  were  ready  for  his  enjoyment.  And  was  the  inte- 
rior structure  left  unorganized  ?  Were  there  no  ores  in  the 
mountains — no  minerals  to  minister  to  human  wants  ?  How 
did  the  descendants  of  Cain  so  speedily  learn  to  handle  the 
harp  and  the  organ  and  become  artificers  in  brass  and  iron  ? 
Or  were  a  part  of  these  formed,  and  will  they  tell  us  which 
part  it  was,  and  which  have  been  the  result  of  the  laws  of 
nature  since?  And  if  they  cannot,  shall  their  theories  un- 
settle our  faith?  We  cannot  justify  to  our  own  reason,  a 
disbelief  in  the  written  record,  until  we  are  capable  of  demon- 
strating its  falsehood.  It  should  not  be  theorized  away. 
God  made  "the  earth  and  the  world"  The  finishing  of 
creation  left  all  things,  like  man,  perfect  in  their  kind ;  and 
it  left,  too,  the  principles  of  its  existence,  impressed  on  every 


21 

atom  of  matter  to  sustain  and  preserve  it,  and  to  form  it 
anew,  when  ;  it  should  become  necessary  to  carry  on  the 
purposes  of  its  maker.  He  pronounced  it  all  "  very  good" — 
adorned  it  with  loveliness  and  hung  it  up,  in  its  rich  garniture, 
among  the  orbs  which  were  to  proclaim  "  Glory  to  God  in 
the  highest." 

Do  not,  I  entreat,  read  this  book,  to  scorn  or  to  doubt. 
True  science  will  come  to  the  aid  of  your  belief.  Humboldt, 
Werner,  and  others,  and  especially  Cuvier  in  his  theory  of 
the  earth,  by  an  investigation  of  facts,  and  a  sagacious  induc- 
tion from  the  known  changes  of  the  earth,  the  traditions  of 
nations  and  the  astronomical  observations  of  the  Chaldeans, 
Egyptians  and  Hindoos,  have  established  the  Mosaic  account 
with  a  demonstration  which  leaves  no  ground  of  argument  to 
the  adversary.  And  the  balance  is  sustained,  even  by  the 
principles  of  legal  evidence  by  which  courts  of  justice  decide 
upon  our  civil  rights.  Reason  has  been  able  to  place  the  sin- 
gular events  by  which  the  Almighty  spoke,  and  the  miracles 
which  overpowered  incredulity,  on  the  ground  of  historical 
evidence.  Philosophy  yields  to  the  examination,  and  Faith 
receives  them  with  holy  reverence.  Scepticism  is  disarmed 
of  rational  support.  It  has  always  been  founded  in  ignorance 
or  guilt.  It  has  adjudged  and  condemned  that  which  it  never 
studied  and  comprehended.  It  seems  to  have  forgotten,  that 
truth  must  be  learned  by  evidence ;  that  evidence  demands 
reflection  and  study ;  and  that  sober  investigation,  with  hon- 
est purpose,  is  necessary  to  acquire  and  learn  every  thing 
which  is  valuable  ;  yet  without  these  it  has  theorized  on  the 
profoundest  truths,  and  ended  in  doubt  or  confirmed  unbelief. 
Voltaire,  Hume,  Paine,  and  the  whole  host,  have  committed 
errors  in  point  of  fact  and  sound  reasoning,  which  would  dis- 
grace you  at  this  early  period  of  your  scholarship.  Scepti- 
cism has  always  been  impatient  of  study.  It  never  investi- 
gated facts  and  fundamental  principles,  and  was  never  willing 
to  understand  the  alphabet  of  the  subject,  on  which  it  ven- 
tured its  opposition.     And  hence  its  refutation  has  been  com- 


22 

plete.  And  why  should  it  not  ?  Did  God  produce  an  imper- 
fect work  ?  Would  not  omniscience  make  the  true  principles 
of  science,  applicable  to  the  workmanship  of  his  own  hands, 
consistent  with  and  vindicators  of  that  workmanship  ?  He 
has  done  so.  And  all  his  words  stand  unshaken  as  the  hills 
which  rest  upon  his  power. 

Nay  more,  His  book  furnishes  tests,  by  which  the  truth  of 
ancient  writers  may  be  tried,  and  they  are  to  be  credited  or 
disbelieved,  as  they  approach  or  recede  from  the  narrations  of 
this  volume.  You  may  try  Herodotus,  Thucydides,  Josephus, 
or  any  other,  by  this  standard,  in  what  relates  to  the  same 
principles  and  the  same  events.  It  narrates  and  refers  to  a 
large  proportion  of  the  events  of  human  societies,  not  only 
preceding  and  contemporaneous,  but  long  subsequent  to  the 
times  in  which  the  writers  lived.  Its  traditionary  and  inspired 
notices  of  the  earliest  condition  and  actions  of  mankind  are 
the  only  record  from  which  you  can  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
them.  In  this  respect  it  is  an  indispensable  and  invaluable 
work.  You  can  find  no  substitute  for  it.  Its  subsequent 
details  are  more  simple  and  sure  than  those  of  any  and  all 
other  works  united,  and  they  are  confirmed  by  the  monuments 
of  history,  and  by  all  that  remains  of  the  nations  which  they 
mention.  You  will  find  abundant  illustrations  of  this  in 
Shuckford,  Prideaux,  Adam  Clarke's  commentary,  and  other 
works  which  relate  to  the  subject.  Of  their  faithfulness  and 
truth  there  are  evidences  in  the  traditions  of  many  people — 
the  remains  of  kingdoms  and  nations — and  in  every  line  of 
the  recorded  history  of  our  race.  There  is  a  recent  and  beau- 
tiful confirmation  of  one  short  passage,  which  has  heretofore 
stood  unsustained,  so  far  as  I  know,  by  any  collateral  testi- 
mony. In  the  14th  chapter  of  1  Kings,  we  are  told  that  in 
the  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  Rehoboam,  Shishak,  king  of 
Egypt,  came  up  against  Jerusalem,  and  took  away  the  trea- 
sures of  the  Lord's  house  and  of  the  king's  house,  and  all  the 
shields  of  gold  which  Solomon  had  made.  This  was  a  thou- 
sand years  before  the  final  sacking  of  that  city  and  the  disper- 


23 

sion  of  its  inhabitants.  Of  this  invasion  and  plunder,  there  is 
no  mention  in  profane  history ;  but  now,  twenty-eight  hun- 
dred years  after  the  event,  it  is  said  to  be  verified  by  satisfac- 
tory proof.  Champollion,  in  searching  among  the  ruins  of 
Thebes,  the  seat  of  Shishak's  power,  found  sculptured  upon 
the  walls  of  one  of  those  magnificent  temples  built  by  him 
and  dedicated  to  his  gods,  a  triumphal  ceremony,  which 
represents  him,  as  dragging  the  chiefs  of  thirty  conquered  na- 
tions to  the  feet  of  the  idols  whom  he  worshipped,  and  among 
them  Jouhada  Malek,  king  of  Judah.  The  inscriptions  upon 
the  shield  which  he  bears,  show  the  land  from  which  it  came, 
and  the  portrait  of  the  monarch,  presents  the  same  Jewish 
countenance,  which,  by  a  miracle  running  through  forty  cen- 
turies, has  been  preserved  to  the  present  hour.  Time — the 
investigations  of  science — the  changes  of  nations — are  but 
instruments  in  the  hands  of  the  Author  of  that  Book  to  vin- 
dicate its  truth. 

Its  prophecies  are  an  important  portion  of  the  history,  not 
only  of  Israel,  but  of  the  world.  You  will  not  study  them, 
at  this  period  of  your  lives,  to  find  out  that  which  is  yet 
to  come.  Such  a  study,  would  demand  subjugation  of  the 
passions,  calmness  and  humility,  enlarged  knowledge  and 
sound  judgment,  unsuited  to  your  years.  But  that  which 
relates  to  the  past  will  afford  you  most  useful  information, 
and  teach  you  powerful  and  abiding  lessons.  When  they 
were  delivered,  they  were  anticipation  and  prediction  of 
things  improbable  and  incredible,  but  long  since  become  facts. 
To  you  they  are  recorded  history.  Not  one  of  them  has 
failed.  Their  execution  is  now  written  on  the  face  of  the 
fairest  part  of  the  earth,  in  letters  of  desolation.  None  can 
see  them  and  disbelieve.  Are  not  the  guilty  cities  of  the 
plain,  still  covered  by  the  bitter  waters  of  Asphaltites !  Is 
not  Canaan  still  a  curse  and  Babylon  a  desolation,  where  the 
Arab  does  not  pitch  his  tent,  nor  the  shepherd  make  his  fold  ? 
Is  not  Ismael  still  the  terror  of  the  mountain  and  the  danger 
of  the  valley  ?     Is  there  any  more  a  prince  in  the  land  of 


24 

Egypt  ?     And  are  not  the  separate  and  contrasted  destinies  of 
Esau  and  Israel,  demonstration  to  every  mind,  that  the  spirit 
which  foresaw  and  foretold  both,  was  not  of  man  ?     Esau 
possessed  the  very  fatness  of  the  land;   his  people  were 
numerous;  his  power   great;    his  cities    strong;   his  pride 
haughty ;  yet  in  the  midst  of  his  glory,  and  when  to  human 
eye  his  strength  was  firm  and  his  growth  vigorous,  the  denun- 
ciation went  forth  from  the  mouth  of  the  prophet.     He  had 
sinned,  and  "  shed  the  blood  of  Israel  with  the  sword,  in  the 
time  of  their  calamity  and  in  a  time  when  their  iniquity  had 
an  end,"  and  now,  utter  desolation  covers  his  land  and  Esau 
is  no  more— a  blasted  monument  of  the  precise  truth  of  the 
prediction.      The    sword    of  the   Almighty  was   bathed  in 
heaven  and  came  down  upon  Idumea  and  upon  the  people  of 
his  curse  to  judgment.     The  bow  was  bended  and  the  arrows 
were  not  spared.     The  barrenness  of  El  Ghor  extends  from 
the  Elanitic  Gulf  to  the  Dead  Sea.     The  Edom  of^  the  Edom- 
ites,  is  without  an  inhabitant.     From  generation  to  genera- 
tion it  has  lain  waste.     Her  nobles  were  called  to  the  king- 
dom and  none  were  there  ;  all  her  princes  have  been  nothing, 
and  there  is  not  any  remaining  of  the  house  of  Esau.     A 
young  countryman  of  your  own,  who  has  recently  followed 
the  track  of  the  Israelites,  and  traversed  Idumea,  was  deeply 
impressed  with  the  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy,  and  its  evi- 
dence of  the  truth  of  this  volume.     «  I  would,"  he  exclaims, 
"  that  the  sceptic  could  stand  as  I  did  among  the  ruins  of  this 
city— among  the  rocks,  and  there  open  the  sacred  Book,  and 
read  the  words  of  the  inspired  penman,  written  when  this 
desolate  place  was  one  of  the  greatest  cities  of  the  world.     I 
see  the  scoff  arrested— his  cheek  pale— his  lip  quivering— his 
heart  quaking  with  fear,  as  the  ruined  city  cries  out  to  him  in 
a  voice  loud  and  powerful  as  that  of  one  risen  from  the  dead. 
Though  he  would  not  believe  Moses  and  the  prophets,  he 
believes  the  hand  writing  of  God  himself  in  the  desolation 
and  eternal  ruin  around  him." 

How  extraordinary  has  been  the  contrast  with  Israel.     He 


25 

too  had  sinned,  and  punishment  was  denounced  against  him  ; 
but  that  punishment  was  coupled,  not  with  his  extinction  but 
his  preservation  and  eventual  restoration  to  happiness  and 
power.  The  promise  was  to  Abraham  and  his  seed,  and  that 
promise  has  been  kept  and  will  be  kept.  His  descendants 
have  been  chastised  but  not  consumed — dispersed  among  all 
the  nations  under  heaven — yet,  in  every  land,  preserved  a 
separate  and  distinct  people.  For  nearly  three  thousand 
years  of  their  history,  they  have  been  in  bondage  and  disper- 
sion, yet  have  preserved  their  religion,  their  language,  their 
habits,  and  their  customs — unmingled  with  others.  They 
have  been  compared  to  the  waters  of  the  Rhone,  which  flow 
through  without  mixing  with  the  waves  of  the  intervening 
lake,  until  they  discharge  themselves  in  the  ocean.  Seven 
millions  of  them  yet  remain  in  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe, 
trodden  down  by  the  gentiles,  but  awaiting  their  restoration  ; 
and  they  will  be  trodden  down,  until  the  time  of  the  gentiles 
be  fulfilled ;  but  as  surely  as  Esau  is  extinct,  Israel  will  be 
restored.  The  words  of  the  prophecy  will  stand  sure.  They 
will  yet  awake  from  their  slumbers  and  believe.  An  aveng- 
ing God  will  then  become  a  restoring  Saviour,  to  a  guilty  but 
repentant  people.  They  will  be  gathered.  The  glory  which 
departed,  when  the  tragedy  on  Calvary  was  enacted,  will 
come  again.  Jerusalem  will  be  rebuilded.  The  house  of 
Aaron  will  again  minister  in  her  temple.  The  dark  tresses 
of  the  daughters  of  Zion,  which  have  hung  mournfully  in 
exile,  will  be  wreathed  again  in  beauty,  and  anthems  and 
homage  ascend  from  Moriah  to  the  Great  Deliverer. 

But  it  is  not  my  purpose,  to-day,  to  urge,  before  you,  the 
evidences  and  proofs,  from  prophecy  and  history,  of  the  truth 
of  the  volume  which  I  recommend  for  your  study.  But  I 
bid  you  fear  not  to  examine  the  mass  of  facts,  the  concatena- 
tion of  stupendous  and  minute  events  which  it  contains  ; 
remembering  as  I  have  before  warned  you,  that  its  object  was 
not  to  furnish  systems  of  philosophy  and  science.  Its  design 
was  to  give  a  true  and  genuine  account  of  the  origin  of  our 

3 


26 

globe,  and  its  inhabitants;  of  the  source  from  which  they 
sprung,  and  the  principles  of  that  superintending  providence, 
which  controls  their  progress  and  fixes  their  irreversible  desti* 
nation.  In  this  respect  it  is  an  original  work,  having  nothing 
which  resembles  it,  in  human  learning.  No  pagan  system  or 
writing  ever  suggested  the  idea  of  instructing  men  in  these 
momentous  truths ;  of  teaching  them  that  they  were  created 
and  governed  by  one  who  had  universal  dominion,  and  of 
embracing  purity  of  morals  as  an  essential  part  of  a  religious 
code.  But  this  work  begins  and  carries  on  the  history  of  our 
race,  in  connexion  with  a  religious  system  which  does  all  this. 
And  the  story  which  it  tells  is  compressed  yet  conspicuous — 
simple  yet  dignified — most  general,  yet  minute.  It  gives  a 
particular  account  of  the  peopling  of  the  earth,  the  dispersion, 
settlement  and  divisions  of  the  nations ;  and  then,  selecting 
one  people  which  was  to  preserve  the  knowledge  and  worship 
of  the  Most  High,  gives  its  history,  almost  by  the  names  of 
the  individuals  composing  it  and  the  common  events  in  the 
actions  of  many  of  their  lives ;  while  at  the  same  time,  by 
prophecy  it  foreshadows  the  destiny  of  many  other  nations. 
Yet  in  doing  all  this,  it  keeps  unbroken  the  unity  of  the  whole. 
Such  a  unity  exists  in  no  emanation  of  human  intellect.  All 
its  lengthened  narration ;  its  small  and  its  great  events  ;  the 
secret  actions  of  individuals,  and  the  convulsions  and  revolu- 
tions of  kingdoms,  are  made  to  have  reference  to  one  object — 
one  catastrophe — to  an  incident  foretold  for  centuries — looked 
for  by  a  large  part  of  the  pagan  world,  without  understanding 
it ;  an  incident  apparently  unimportant  in  its  nature,  when 
considered  separately, — the  unjust  sacrifice  of  a  being  in  the 
form  of  man — yet  mighty  in  the  preparation  for  it  and  over- 
whelming in  its  consequences.  Standing  on  a  single  point 
where  this  incident  occurred,  on  a  small  hill  in  the  territory  of 
Judea,  with  this  book  as  your  telescope,  you  may  look  back 
through  more  than  four  thousand  years,  through  the  history 
of  the  family  of  mankind,  and  see  with  distinct  vision,  human 
actions  and  worldly  events,  pointing  forward  to,  and  influ- 


27 

enced  by,  the  tragedy  enacted  on  that  spot ;  and  turning  your 
eye  to  the  future,  you  may  behold  the  actions  and  events  of 
near  two  thousand  years  which  have  since  followed,  bending 
backiuard  to  the  same  little  point  of  time  and  space  ;  and  you 
may  follow  on,  until,  perhaps,  two  thousand  other  years  shal 
have  completed  the  record  of  man's  existence  on  earth,  and  it 
will  still  remain — and  such  it  will  be,  through  eternal  ages, 
the  central  point  of  human  hopes  and  human  interests.  Did 
unassisted  human  intellect  form  such  a  work  ?  Did  Moses, 
upon  the  mountain  nigh  to  Jordan,  see  that  point  of  the  pro- 
mised land,  and  write  his  pentateuch  in  reference  to  it,  without 
other  aid  than  human  thought  and  human  skill?  Did  he 
alone  devise  the  sacrifices  and  ceremonies  which  prefigured 
that  event  ?  And  did  David,  Isaiah,  and  others,  in  strains 
which  pagan  and  uninspired  poetry  has  never  ^e quailed,  fore- 
tell it  because  Moses  had  foreseen  it  ?  Did  the  sent  One  come 
and  suffer,  that  he  might  save  them  from  the  scorn  of  error 
and  imposition  ?  Let  the  infidel  and  the  scoffer  answer.  Be 
it  yours,  my  young  friends,  to  avoid  their  extreme  folly ;  to 
study,  with  all  the  energies  of  your  intellects,  the  wondrous 
Book  and  gather  up  its  stores  of  knowledge.  "  The  prophecy 
came  not  of  old  time,  by  the  will  of  man." 

It  will  require  no  hasty  reading  or  thoughtless  examination. 
All  your  powers  of  sober  thought  and  diligent  industry  will 
be  demanded  for  the  task.  But  those  powers  will  not  be 
weakened  nor  the  affections  of  your  hearts  debased  by  the 
exercise.  It  is  a  principle  in  the  constitution  of  your  nature 
that  inaction  of  the  heart  and  mind,  renders  both  torpid  and 
worthless ;  while  discipline,  exertion,  exercise  on  proper  ob- 
jects, will  invigorate  all  their  faculties  and  lead  them  on  to 
the  highest  elevation  of  happiness  and  honor — the  devotion 
of  your  capacities  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  were  crea- 
ted :  an  elevation  which  as  favored  scholars  you  cannot  fail 
to  desire.  A  rigorous  investigation  of  the  authenticity  and 
principles  of  this  book  will  discipline  your  powers — impart  to 
you   generous  and  lofty  sentiments — high  and    controlling 


28 

sense  of  duty — force  of  character  to  meet  responsibilities,  and 
firmness  to  encounter  trials.  And  what  affection  or  feeling  of 
the  heart  is  there,  which  will  not  find  employment  in  the 
study  ?  Do  you  seek  an  explanation  of  the  nature,  or  illus- 
tration of  any  pure  feeling — of  filial  duty  and  affection — of 
conjugal  or  parental  love — of  sympathy  and  kindness — of 
strong  enduring  friendship — of  attachment  to  country  and  her 
institutions — of  any  one  emotion  which  is  worthy  of  you  as 
social  and  immortal  beings — or  of  any  corrupt  and  debasing 
practice  which  reason  forbids  you  to  indulge  ?  It  will  be 
found  there. 

I  may  not  detain  you  by  quotations  to  illustrate  this  truth  : 
but  let  me  refer  you  to  one  or  two  examples.  Your  young 
hearts  go  out  towards  your  country,  and  there  is  something 
dear  to  you  in  the  words,  "  my  native  land."  Turn  then  to 
the  exiles  from  Israel  when  they  sat  by  the  rivers  of  Babylon, 
and  read  the  inimitable  description.  They  remembered  their 
country — recalled  the  songs  of  Zion — and  said,  "  If  I  forget 
thee,  Oh  Jerusalem,  may  my  right  hand  forget  her  cunning." 
Your  ardent  natures  riot  in  the  first  impulses  of  friendship, 
whose  essence  is  sympathy.  Turn  then  to  the  visit  to.  Beth- 
any ;  and  while  you  read  an  illustration  of  power  over  the 
grave  and  its  tenants,  you  will  see  an  equal  exhibition  of 
sympathy  and  friendship.  Remember  who  it  was,  and  whence 
he  came,  who  paid  that  visit.  The  heaven  of  heavens  was 
his  throne  ;  eternity  his  dwelling-place.  He  sustained  count- 
less worlds  by  his  power,  and  held  the  keys  of  death  and  hell 
in  his  hands ;  and  yet  he  forgot  not  the  claims  of  human 
affection.  He  went  on  an  errand  of  mercy  and  friendship  to 
the 'disconsolate  and  agonized  whom  he  loved,  but  whose 
weakness  could  give  no  aid  to  him.  And  when  he  witnessed 
their  suffering,  and  saw  his  friend  the  victim  of  the  destroyer, 
he,  even  he,  "  Jesus  wept,"  and  cried  "  Come  forth,"  and  was 
obeyed.  Well  might  the  believing  and  unbelieving  Jews 
exclaim — "  Behold  how  he  loved  him."  This  illustration  of 
combined  omnipotence  and  sympathy,  is  little  less  sublime 


29 

than  when  the  same  omnipotence,  by  his  command,  "  Let 
there  be  light" — scattered  the  darkness  which  covered  the 
material  world ;  or  when  he  prayed  "  Father  forgive  them, 
for  they  know  not  what  they  do,"  and  pronounced — "  It  is 
finished ;"  thus  closing  the  parallel  between  man's  creation 
and  man's  redemption,  How  paltry  by  the  side  of  such  pas- 
sages, is  the  oft-quoted  exhibition  of  human  vanity,  Quid 
times,  Caesarem  vehis,  and  a  thousand  others  to  which  you 
are  so  often  referred.  "  Jesus  wept" — "Lazarus  come  forth" 
You  can  find  no  such  passages,  in  any  other  author." 

I  might  readily  exhibit  before  you  a  multitude  of  other 
examples  of  sentiment  and  style,  but  I  must  hasten  to  another 
aspect  of  my  subject.  Knowledge,  and  the  capacity  to  com- 
municate it  in  the  most  perfect  manner,  will  avail  little  in 
establishing  a  desirable  reputation  as  scholars,  unless  they  are 
used  to  support  those  moral  and  social  principles  on  which 
the  happiness  of  yourselves  and  society  depends.  Knowledge, 
I  admit,  of  every  kind,  even  that  of  figures,  is  calculated  to 
soften  the  mind,  and  tends  to  link  man  with  his  fellows,  and 
of  itself,  therefore,  ought  to  prevent  the  commission  of  crime. 
But,  yet  it  is  true,  that  it  is  not  always  beneficial,  and  that 
"  high  mental  attainments  are  no  adequate  security  against 
moral  debasement."  The  Duke  of  Wharton;  Wilmot,  Earl 
of  Rochester ;  Villers,  Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  Mirabeau, 
were  in  their  days  distinguished  by  wit,  and  taste,  and  learn- 
ing, and  knowledge  ;  and  they  were  not  less  distinguished  by 
extravagance,  revelry,  lawless  passions  and  disregard  of  moral 
and  social  virtue.  High  attainments  are  tremendous  engines 
for  the  working  out  of  good  or  evil.  If  not  directed  by  correct 
and  safe  principles,  they  are  "  terrible  weapons  of  ill."  The 
educated  rogue  or  infidel  is  but  the  more  dangerous  man. 

This  truth  is  worthy  of  serious  reflection  at  the  present 
time.  There  is  a  tendency  in  the  education  of  the  age — it 
may  almost  be  called  its  characteristic — to  overlook  the  im- 
portance, the  indispensable  necessity  of  laying  correct  social 

and  moral  principles  at  the  foundation  of  all  instruction. 

3* 


30 

The  object  seems  to  be,  to  teach  the  scholar  so  that  he  may- 
secure  temporary  success,  and  run,  with  the  speed  of  the 
locomotive,  the  career  of  wealth  and  popular  applause.  The 
wonderful  mechanical  inventions  of  the  day,  and  the  entire 
revolutions  which  are  taking  place  in  the  business  and  em- 
ployments of  society,  seem  to  have  bewildered  the  common 
sense  of  mankind,  and  we  are  in  danger  of  becoming  not  a 
moral  and  social,  but  a  selfish  and  mechanical  race.  I  do  not 
regret,  but  rejoice  in  this  progress,  because  I  hope  it  will  be 
made  to  subserve  the  permanent  interests  and  happiness  of 
men.  But  I  do  not  desire  to  see  the  discoveries  of  Fulton  and 
Arkwright  and  other  inventors,  exclude  that  instruction  which 
rests  on  doctrines  which  are  the  essence  of  all  safe  knowledge, 
and  are  not  merely  of  temporal  but  eternal  duration.  That 
education  is  the  first  object,  and  that  secured,  we  may  make 
them  subservient  to  our  pleasures,  our  interests,  and  all  the 
high  purposes  of  our  creation.  If  you  do  not  thus  pursue  the 
education  which  you  have  now  commenced ;  if  you  do  not 
establish,  for  yourselves,  principles  founded  in  your  nature 
and  in  the  nature  of  the  social  state,  and  regulate  your  learn- 
ing by  them,  you  will  be  no  blessings  to  your  day  and  gene- 
ration, but  may  become  madmen,  who  will  scatter  firebrands, 
arrows  and  death,  in  seriousness  and  in  sport ;  excite,  as  you 
pass  along,  the  gaze  of  abhorrent  wonder  at  your  knowledge 
and  acquirements,  but  bear  the  detestation  of  the  wise  and 
good,  and  leave  behind  you  only  melancholy  monuments  of 
the  desolation  you  have  wrought. 

But  where  will  you  find,  that  you  may  study,  those  princi- 
ples, which,  as  scholars  you  may  advocate,  and  carry  out,  in 
the  actions  of  your  lives  ?  Will  you  go  to  uninspired  jmen, 
when  you  have  in  your  hands  the  instructions  of  those  who 
were  taught  by  an  infallible  omniscience,  those  principles 
which  are  necessary  for  your  guidance  ?  Will  you  go  to  men, 
who,  themselves,  did  not  even  understand,  by  whom  they 
were  created  ;  by  whom  governed,  and  to  whom  they  had  to 
answer?    To  teachers  of  the  ancient  heathen  world?    To 


31 

men  of  modern  times,  more  blind  than  those  of  old,  because 
they  are  incapable  of  seeing,  when  clearer  light  surrounds 
them  ?  They  were  and  are,  without  exception,  ignorant  of 
the  very  basis  of  moral  and  social  principle — the  relation  of 
the  creature  to  the  creator ;  without  which  the  relation  and 
duties  of  one  creature  to  another  can  never  be  understood. 
And  unless  the  principle  be  right,  the  action  directed  by  it, 
will,  generally,  be  wrong.  You  are  not  ignorant,  how  assu- 
redly your  conduct  is  regulated  by  your  opinions. 

But  if  you  are  inclined  to  seek  such  teachers,  go,  and  ask 
the  wisest  among  them.  Inquire  of  Epicurus.  He  will  tell 
you,  among  other  benighted  errors,  and  as  his  essential  doc- 
trine, that  matter  acts  independently,  and  that  there  is  no 
intelligent  agent  to  create  and  to  preserve  in  the  wide  universe 
of  matter ;  and  if  you  believe  him,  you  will  eat  and  drink 
to-day,  with  no  higher  aim,  and  to-morrow  you  will  die  ;  and 
thus  will  end  your  miserable  career  on  earth,  among  the 
beings,  whose  best  and  noblest  interests  it  is  your  duty  to 
serve  and  to  promote.  If  there  be  no  intelligent  power  to 
create  and  to  preserve,  whence  and  how  came  that  wondrous 
body  of  yours,  and  still  more  wondrous  intellect  ?  Were  they 
of  chance  ?  Were  the  parts  of  your  frame — the  hand,  the 
ear,  the  eye — its  internal  make  and  structure,  all  from  accident, 
and  that  accident  repeated  through  six  thousand  years,  and  in 
countless  millions  upon  millions  of  instances  ?  Were  your 
mental  faculties ;  your  social  propensities ;  your  passions, 
whose  active  energy  sets  all  your  powers  in  motion,  all  of 
chance  ?  Did  chance  create  this  beauteous  earth,  with  all  its 
open  and  hidden  glories ;  impress  on  every  atom  of  matter 
the  eternal  law  of  its  existence  and  its  action,  and  make  and 
sustain  the  mighty  worlds  which  fill  all  space  and  roll  their 
endless  round — "  then  indeed  is  Chance  a  God,  and  ye  may 
worship  him."  But  no,  you  and  all  that  creation  contains, 
are  "  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,"  by  a  fearful  and  won- 
derful Maker ;  and  his  laws,  if  you  can  discover  them,  you 
are  bound  to  obey.  It  were  wiser,  with  Sir  Francis  Bacon, 
to  believe  every  fable  in  the  Legend,  the  Talmud  and  the 


32 

Alcoran,  than  that  this  universal  frame  is  without  a  mind, 
whose  glory  the  heavens  declare,  and  whose  voice  is  heard 
in  every  language  under  heaven.    Epicurus  cannot  teach  you. 

If  not  satisfied  with  him  go  to  the  Academy  where  Plato 
taught,  and  ask  him  for  instruction.  He  will,  perhaps,  hand 
you  his  Republic,  which,  like  the  Utopia  of  More,  you  will 
soon  discover,  is  the  mere  delirium  of  philosophy,  utterly  vain 
for  the  regulation  of  beings,  with  such  interests  and  passions 
as  you  and  your  fellows  possess.  Or  perchance,  he  may 
undertake  to  instruct  you  in  his  one  of  the  three  hundred 
Grecian  notions  of  the  Chief  Good,  and  will  tell  you  that  it 
consists  in  being  like  God.  You  ask  him,  what  is  being  like 
God?  He  will  answer,  that  it  consists  in  a  good  habit  of 
genius.  And  when  you  inquire,  how  shall  we  attain  a  good 
habit  of  genius  ?  with  all  his  wisdom  and  knowledge  he  can 
only  say,  It  is  to  be  attained  by  Music,  Arithmetic,  Astronomy, 
and  Geometry.  And  thus  will  end  your  inquiries  at  this 
oracle  of  paganism.  He  borrowed,  it  is  true,  something  from 
Moses ;  for  in  his  day  the  Jewish  teachers  mingled  the  doc- 
trines of  Grecian  philosophy  with  their  purer  religious  faith  ; 
and  Grecian  philosophers  obtained  some  glimmerings  of  light 
from  the  law  and  the  prophets  :  but  he  still  remained  ignorant 
of  the  only  sure  foundation  on  which  a  system  of  sound  prin- 
ciples can  rest. 

Will  you  go  to  other  Grecian  and  Roman  instructers  ?  Will 
you  listen  to  Socrates,  while  he  tells  you  that  knowledge  is 
the  Chief  Good  which  you  onght  to  seek,  but  that  you  may 
practice  idolatry,  profaneness,  impurity?  Or  Seneca, — that 
he  does  not  know  what  duty  is,  and  that  you  may  destroy 
your  own  lives,  to  gratify  your  passions,  or  save  mistaken 
honor?  Or  Cicero,— while  he  admits  that  he  is  much  less 
capable  of  telling  what  he  did,  than  what  he  did  not  think  ; 
recommends  revenge  as  a  duty,  and  honor  as  the  only  reward 
of  virtue,  and  proposes  to  deify  for  worship  his  own  daughter? 
Or  will  you  adopt  the  humiliating  doctrines  of  Pythagoras, 
and  believe  in  the  metempsychosis,  and  that  this  anxious, 
restless,  and  aspiring  spirit  which  is  within  you,  at  the  hour 


33 

of  your  dissolution,  passes,  not  to  a  disembodied  and  joyous 
or  agonized  existence,  hut  becomes  the  tenant  of  some  bird, 
or  beast,  or  reptile  ?     This  was,  perhaps  no  unnatural  faith, 
to  those  who  have  not  a  futurity  revealed  to  them.     It  pre- 
vailed widely  in  the  ancient  world,  and  is  at  this  moment,  the 
settled  belief  of  hundreds  of  millions  in  Eastern  Asia.     And 
why  should  it  not  be,  when  they  have  no  avenue  to  the  future 
opened  before  them  ?     Do  not  you,  and  did  not  they,  feel, 
that  this  life  cannot  be  man's  only  abiding  place  ?  that  this 
spirit  cannot  pass,  upon  the  hasty  and  uncertain  waves  of 
time  to  an  eternal  nothingness  ?     That  the  restless,  irrepressi- 
ble, and  unsatisfied  leapings  of  the  heart  ancl  the  affections, 
after  that  which  is  higher  and  beyond  all  that  surrounds  us, 
demand  that  we  should  credit  something  which  belongs  not  to 
the  passing  hour  ?     That  "  all  the  economy  of  nature ;  the 
beauty  of  the  earth ;  the  brilliancy  of  the  stars ;  the  glory  of 
the  lights  of  the  day  and  the  night ;  the  forms  of  human 
strength  and  loveliness,  cannot  be  taken  from  us  and  pass 
forever  from  our  sight  and  our  enjoyment  ?    That  there  must 
be  a  continued — a  prolonged  existence ;  where  the  eye  shall 
see,  the  ear  hear,  beauty  fade  not,  the  affections  of  the  heart 
be  not  blasted,  and  the  glorious  "panoply  of  nature  be  spread 
out,  forever  ?'     And  how,  without  a  revelation  could  man  be 
assured  of  these  things  ?     He  was  not.     And  in  his  gropings 
after  the  future,  he  adopted  the  belief,  that  this  spirit  did  not 
die  with  his  decaying  body,  but  survived  in  an  humbler  and 
more  degraded  form.     But  can  you  submit  to  be  taught  by 
such  teachers,  while  the  volume  before  you  offers  the  full 
splendors  of  an  undying  existence,  which  marches  onward 
and  onward,  in  the  fruition  of  growing  powers,  and  multiply- 
ing pleasures  ? 

Will  you  then  desert  the  ancient  pagan  teachers,  and 
wander  to  Confucius  ?  He  will  give  you  maxims  of  pru- 
dence and  social  regulations,  but  sanctioned  only  by  con- 
venience and  necessity,  and  leaving  you  and  all  whom  he  in- 
structs in  degraded  idolatry  and  atheism.  The  Chinese  em- 
pire has  adopted  his  creed  ;  and  it  is  a  mixture  of  deism,  or 


34 

what  is  falsely  called  natural  religion,  and  the  humiliating 
doctrine  of  the  transmigration  of  souls.  "  The  attributes  of 
their  faith  are  obscenity  and  blood."  (Buchanan.)  Will 
you  search  the  Institutes  of  Menu  ?  Their  translator,  Sir 
William  Jones,  declares,  that,  with  all  their  beauties,  they 
have  established  only  a  system  of  despotism  and  priestcraft. 

Mohammed  will  give  you  a  mixture  of  Judaism,  Christian- 
ity and  Paganism.  He  had  Moses  and  the  Prophets,  Christ 
and  his  Apostles  to  enlighten  him;  and  to  them  is  he  in- 
debted for  every  excellence  which  the  Koran  contains.  All 
beyond  the  larceny  which  he  committed  upon  them  is  the 
very  fable  and  foolery  of  imposture  ;  a  cheat  which  the  sword 
alone  could  have  made  prevalent.  That  sword,  in  a  few 
short  years,  subdued  to  itself  an  empire  wider  than  that  of 
Rome,  in  her  proudest  hour,  but  in  the  degradation  of  his 
proselytes  you  witness  the  issue  of  his  impostures. 

If,  despairing  of  success,  among  pagan  and  half  enlightened 
instructers,  you  turn  to  Christian  teachers,  you  do  well.  The 
students  of  this  College,  who  have  preceded  you,  were  di- 
rected to  the  principles  which  they  ought  to  adopt,  and  by 
which  their  conduct  should  be  regulated,  by  the  profound  and 
eloquent  lectures  of  WTitherspoon  and  Smith  ;  and  you  are 
required  to  study  the  dissertations  of  Paley.  They  were  safe 
guides,  for  they  sat  at  the  feet  of  the  great  teacher,  and 
learned  their  philosophy  from  him.  But  ,why  will  you  rely 
upon  them,  when  every  thing  which  they  taught  and  which 
was  not  error,  they  derived  directly  from  the  book  which  is 
in  your  own  hands,  and  no  commentary  can  equal  the  shin- 
ing light  of  the  original ;  nanquam  par  sit,  imitator  auctori, 
— haec  natura  est  rei,  semper  citra  veritatem  est  similitudo. 
They  did  not,  they  could  not,  nor  can  you,  form  a  safe  system 
of  moral  and  social  principles,  as  a  guide  for  conduct ;  and  no 
man  without  the  aid  of  that  book,  has  ever  been  able  to  form 
one.  All  the  ancient  philosophers  failed  and  sunk  into  errors, 
and  justified  acts  abhorrent  to  an  enlightened  conscience  and 
sound  judgment.  And  the  infidel  of  modern  times,  is  equally 
incompetent  to  the  task;   and  adds  to  his  folly,  the  deep 


35 

ingratitude  of  doubting,  denying,  scorning  the  teacher  who 
gave  him  the  lessons  which  he  converts  to  weapons  of  offence. 
He  raises  the  withered  arm  against  him  who  healed  it. 
Whence  does  he  derive  the  lights  of  modern  civilization  ;  the 
morals,  which  enable  him  to  escape  from  the  debaucheries  and 
errors  and  pollutions  of  pagan  philosophy  ?  From  the  teach- 
ings of  this  Book  alone.  But  for  it,  he  would  now  have  been 
a  worshipper  of  the  sun,  of  wooden  images,  or  of  reptiles ; 
and  practising  the  abominations,  which  the  wisest  of  ancient 
philosophers  did  practise.  He  partakes  of  the  fruits  of  the 
promised  land,  but  like  the  children  of  Anak  in  the  valley  of 
Eshcol,  terrifies  and  drives  far  away  those  who  seek  to  enjoy 
them. 

Do  you  imagine  that  you  are  competent  to  the  task  of  form- 
ing a  code  for  yourselves,  without  the  aid  of  this  volume  ? 
Before  you  commit  the  vain  folly  of  the  experiment,  enquire 
into  the  success  of  others — and  take,  for  your  example,  the 
keenest  intellect  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind.  Who 
shall  he  be  ?  Aristotle  ?  W7ho,  and  what  was  he  ?  "  He 
lived  about  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  before  Christ — 
studied  for  twenty  years  with  Plato,  one  of  the  best  of  heathen 
teachers — was  for  seven  years  the  instructer  of  Alexander — 
and  Philip,  out  of  gratitude  for  his  services,  rebuilt  Stagira; 
his  birth-place.  After  the  age  of  fifty,  he  taught  for  twelve 
years  in  the  ATKAION  on  the  banks  of  the  Ilissus.  Plato 
called  him  'the  eye  of  the  Academy' — Pope,  the  Columbus 
of  the  realms  of  wit — Cicero  says,  Mud  Jlumcn  oratiotiis, 
aureum  fundens  Aristotelis.  For  more  than  two  thousand 
years,  in  some  of  the  branches  of  human  learning,  he  has  not 
been  excelled.  Even  yet,  some  of  his  works  are  regarded  as 
almost  infallible  standards  of  criticism,  rhetoric  and  poetry ; 
and  his  ethics  and  politics  have  been  preached  and  read,  on 
the  Sabbath,  in  the  Churches  of  Germany."  He  wrote  on 
almost  every  branch  of  literature  and  science,  and  no  teacher 
ever  exhibited  a  more  acute  and  powerful  intellect.  Some  of 
his  principles  are  sound  practical  wisdom.  He  taught  that 
the  dignity  of  human  nature  consisted  in  the  proper  exercise 


36 

of  the  moral  and  intellectual  faculties— and  its  highest  excel- 
lence in  the  constant  habit  of  that  exercise,  guided  by  reason 
—and  that  our  happiness  depends  chiefly  on  ourselves,  and 
on  the  wisdom  and  purity  with  which  we  form  and  act  upon 
our  pursuits.  He  too  gave  us  the  maxim  '<J>;Xos  m-ev  2wxparv£, 
clXXa  (piXTarri  *)  dx^sia.  With  such  a  teacher  even  you  might 
envy  his  scholars,  the  nspwrcwouvTeg,  if  you  had  not  the  teacher 
who  was  not  born  in  Stagira  but;  Bethlehem.  Such,  in- 
deed, was  his  power  in  the  investigations  of  science,  that  it 
has  been  almost  profanely  said,  that  he  was  "  the  forerunner  of 
Jesus  Christ,  in  the  mysteries  of  nature,  as  John  the  Baptist 
was,  in  the  mysteries  of  grace."  It  is  certainly  true,  that  his 
works,  ami  that  of  Euhemerus,  historian  of  Messenia,  who 
proved  by  monuments  and  records  in  the  temples  of  the  gods, 
in  Greece  and  Arabia,  that  the  generation  of  Olympus  were 
but  mortals  deified  by  superstition— helped  to  prepare  the 
way  for  the  downfall  of  the  sand-built  structure  of  heathen 
mythology.  He  lived  in  the  most  enlightened  and  free 
country  of  antiquity ;  and  was  himself,  the  best  scholar,  the 
profoundest  thinker,  and  the  most  acute  investigator  in  that  age 
and  country.  Yet  there  was  a  point,  and  it  is  that  to  which 
I  am  now  soliciting  your  attention,  on  which  he  failed— and  his 
failure  ought  to  teach  you  a  great  moral  lesson.  When  he 
attempted  to  philosophize  on  the  existence  and  attributes  of 
Deity,  the  nature  of  man  and  his  destination,  and  the  duties 
which  result  from  these  sources  in  our  actions  towards  others ; 
he  became  bewildered  and  ambiguous,  left  no  certain  guide  to 
the  enquirer  after  truth,  nor  any  clear  exposition  of  his  own 
views.     His  account  of  the  Deity  was  nothing  more  than  this, 

Zuov  di^ov  apitfrov — dd^arov — to  "ffpw-rov  xivoCv  dxi'vr,<rov — app^  Xo'701 — 
ahlu  xai  dpx^j  twv  oVrwv.  Excellent,  eternal— incorporeal- 
mover  and  immoveable— principle  of  reason— cause  and  prin- 
ciple of  all  things.  And  in  this  blind  description  ended  all  his 
guesses.  He  needed  a  Revelation.  He  made  indeed  a  great 
advance  beyond  the  mythology  of  his  time*  but  how  infinite- 
ly did  he  fall  below  the  conceptions  of  the  God  of  the  Bible, 
which  are  entertained  by  the  humblest  and  most  unlettered 


37 

Christian.  Instead  of  exhibiting  him  as  the  Creator  of  all 
worlds,  governing,  guiding,  and  controlling  all  things,  grand 
and  minute,  by  a  never  ending  and  never  resting  providence 
—demanding  adoration  from  all  the  works  of  his  hands,  and 
a  strict  accountability  for  every  action,  by  all  the  intelligent 
creation — he  joined  nature  with  him  as  a  part  of  his  essence — 
and  he  himself  sunk  to  the  worship  of  the  thousand  Gods  of 
Greece,  the  personifications  of  human  passions,  and  inter- 
ests : — 

Gods,  partial,  changeful,  passionate,  unjust, 
Whose  attributes  were  rage,  revenge,  and  lust. 

Even  his  mighty  intellect  could  not  grasp  the  true  conception, 
nor  explain  the  multitude  of  personal  and  social  duties  which 
spring  from  it.  And,  my  young  friends,  if  Aristotle  failed, 
can  you  hope  to  succeed  ?  If  Socrates  and  Plato  admitted 
their  need  and  hope  of  a  revelation,  will  you  spurn  that  which 
has  been  given  to  you  ?  Is  it  not  wiser  to  receive  with  hum- 
ble confidence,  the  teachings  which  cannot  err.* 

The  study  of  this  Book  is  required  here  as  a  part  of  your 
collegiate  course,  and  you  will  find  in  it  instructions  for  all 
the  duties  which  you  owe  to  each  other — to  society — to  your 
country — to  mankind :  maxims  for  conduct  and  manner,  in- 
comparably more  pointed,  prudent  and  safe  than  Seneca, 
Rochefoucault,  Chesterfield,  and  a  hundred  other  such  men 
have  given'-or  can  give  to  you.  There  is  no  duty  which  you 
cannot  find  written  there ;  no  condition  or  difficulty  which  it 
does  not  explain,  and  for  which  it  does  not  furnish  a  solution. 
Its  condensation  and  comprehensiveness  place  it  in  striking 

*  It  ought,  perhaps,  to  have  been  here  suggested,  that  this  Institution,  was  the 
first,  (so  far  as  I  am  informed,)  into  which  the  study  of  the  Bible,  as  a  college 
exercise,  was  introduced.  A  few  years  after  I  was  graduated,  I  believe  about  the 
year  1813,  the  now  aged  and  most  venerable  minister  of  the  Gospel,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Ashbel  Green,  a  few  months  after  he  became  the  President,  adopted  the  plan  of 
recitations  on  the  Bible,  on  the  Sabbath  afternoon.  They  were,  at  first,  confined 
to  the  senior  class,  the  President  himself  presiding  over  the  exercise,  but  were 
soon  extended  to  the  whole  college.  Dr.  Hodge,  professor  in  the  Seminary  at 
Princeton,  Dr.  Johns,  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  with  some  others  of  high  distinc- 
tion, were  then  students  here. 

4 


38 

contrast  with  all  other  works.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  me  to 
direct  your  attention  to  various  passages  as  illustrations  of  the 
character  of  the  instructions ;  but  I  am  admonished  that  an 
allusion  to  a  single  one  must  close  my  address.  I  refer  you 
to  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Exodus,  where  in  the  space  of 
about  fifty  short  lines,  there  is  a  code  of  Law,  more  compre- 
hensive, more  just,  more  suited  to  the  condition  of  all  men, 
and  better  fitted  to  promote  and  secure  their  happiness  than 
any  other  ever  offered  to  them :  a  code  which  did  not  belong 
to  the  ritual  or  ceremonial  law  given  to  the  Jews.  That 
found  its  fulfilment  in  the  sacrifice  upon  Calvary.  This  is  of 
perpetual  obligation,  and  rests  upon  us  with  all  its  original 
sanctions.  You  have  read  it  again  and  again,  and  committed 
it  to  your  memories,  and  heard  commentaries  upon  its  mean- 
ing. Have  you  examined  and  reflected  upon  it,  to  see  how 
far  it  is  perfect,  when  compared  with  the  codes  of  other  law- 
givers ?  of  Numa,  Solon,  Lycurgus  ?  Make  the  comparison. 
You  will  find  theirs  defective,  weak,  unfitted  to  secure  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  those  on  whom  they  were  to 
act ;  filled  with  evidence  that  their  authors  were  men  of  like 
frailty  with  ourselves.  With  this  you  can  find  no  such  fault. 
You  cannot  alter  it,  add  to  it,  or  take  away  from  it,  without 
detracting  from  its  value.  And  when  you  see  it  thus  com- 
plete, ask  yourselves/ wAerc,  where,  by  whom,  and  to  whom  it 
was  promulgated  ?  About  three  thousand  five  hundred  years 
ago,  in  the  most  desolate  region  of  Arabia  Petrea,  six  hundred 
thousand  men  "  from  twenty  years  old  and  upward  able  to  go 
forth  to  war,"  besides  women  and  children,  amounting  in  all 
to  probably  much  more  than  two  millions  of  human  beings  of 
all  ages  and  descriptions,  were  assembled  around  the  foot  of  a 
mountain.  If  we  regard  them,  as  unconnected  with  a  holy 
dispensation,  they  were  fugitive  slaves,  from  a  land  where  for 
nearly  two  centuries  they  and  their  fathers  had  been  doomed 
to  a  dreadful  servitude,  and  to  the  ignorance  and  debasement 
which  a  cruel  tyranny  imposed.  They  were  fleeing  through 
a  wilderness  which  then  as  now  could  afford  no  support  for 
men  or  beasts :  they  were  afflicted   by  hunger  and  thirst ; 


39 

with  nothing  before  them,  but  nakedness,  enemies  and  death  •, 
and  they  were   ignorant,  restless,  impatient  in  disposition, 
without  government  or  laws.     What  code  could  be  adapted 
to  such  a  people  ?     What  authority  sufficient  to  subject  them 
to  law,  bind  them  to  obedience,  and  guide  them  to  virtue  and 
happiness?     While  there  assembled,  thunder  and  lightning 
and  the  sound  of  trumpets  were  upon  the  mountain,  and  the 
man  who  had  assumed  to  be  their  leader  pretended  to  receive 
this  code  of  laws,  immediately  from  the  God  whose  terrors 
were  before  them,  and  delivered  it  to  them,  to  bind  and  gov- 
ern them  and  their  descendants  forever.     And  who  was  this 
leader  who  gave  such  a  law,  to  such  a  multitude,  under  such 
circumstances  ?     A  man,  who  for  forty  years  of  his  life,  had 
been  bred  up  amidst  the  debaucheries  of  the  Egyptian  court. 
He  was  not  ignorant,  for  he  had  been  instructed  in  all  the 
learning  which  gave  fame  to  the  schools  of  the  Heliopolis  of 
the   Nile,  and  attracted  to  [them  Herodotus  and  Plato  and 
other  philosophers;  but  that  instruction  was  calculated  to 
imbue  him  with  a  superstition,  which  descending  from  the 
adoration  of  the   heavenly  bodies,  had  sunk  to  the  lowest 
degradation,  the  worship  of  the  reptiles  of  the  Nile.     A  man, 
who  had  slain  an  Egyptian  and  fled  from  the  vengeance  of 
the  laws ; — a  man  who  for  forty  years  more,  in  exile  from  his 
country  had  tended  the  flocks  of  a  shepherd  of  Midian, — and 
when  his  crime  was  forgotten  had  returned  to  persuade  the 
slaves  of  his  lineage  to   rebellion  and   desertion — rebellion 
against  a  power,  the  trophies  of  whose  conquests  had  been 
borne  from  Northern  Asia  to  the  Indies  and  the  Ganges — 
desertion,  with  a  view  to  conquer  and  exterminate  nations 
far  more  numerous,  fierce  and  warlike  than  themselves,  and 
take  possession  of  a  land  of  which  they  knew  nothing  but  from 
rumor  and  tradition.     It  was  indeed  a  land,  which,  if  this 
book  be  true,  had  been  promised  to  their  great  progenitor 
four  hundred  and  thirty  years  before  ;  but  this  book  was  not 
then   written  to  teach  them  that  promise,  and  elevate  their 
hopes  of  its  fulfilment.     Nor  had  that  progenitor  and  his  im- 
mediate descendants  possessed  and  ruled  over  it :  but  for  pre- 


40 

cisely  one-half  of  that  long  period,  like  the  pastoral  Bedouins 
of  more  recent  times,  had  wandered  over  and  pitched  their 
tents  in  certain  portions  of  it,  and  for  the  last  half  they  and 
their  fathers  had  dwelt  in  Goshen,  until  their  leader  tempted 
them  to  this  most  hopeless,  desperate  of  all  human  enterprises. 
And  this  leader,  too,  had  no  peculiar  powers  or  genius  for 
persuasion,  for  he  was  "  not  eloquent,"  but  "  slow  of  speech 
and  slow  of  tongue,"  and  had  to  depend  upon  another  to  be 
his  mouth-piece  before  Pharaoh.  Such  was  the  age  of  the 
world  ;  such  the  multitude  he  led,  and  such  the  man  who 
promulgated  this  law,  if  you  deny  that  God  was  its  author. 
Take  its  perfection,  and  all  the  attending  circumstances,  and 
no  honest  credulity  can  resist  the  conviction  that  a  mightier 
than  Moses  spoke — a  present,  all-knowing  all-governing  God. 
It  were  wiser  to  adopt  the  follies  of  the  atheist,  and  attribute 
all  things  to  chance,  than  to  deny  this  truth.  It  were  as  easy 
for  such  a  man,  to  generate  the  matter  of  the  universe  and 
make  a  world,  as  to  promulgate  such  a  law,  in  such  a  mode, 
and  bind  not  only  such  a  people,  but  the  whole  civilized  race 
of  men  for  thousands  of  years. 

Yet  has  all  this  been  done.  For  forty  years  more,  the  last 
equal  third  part  of  that  man's  life,  he  led  that  multitude 
through  troubles  and  wars,  distresses  and  afflictions  which 
have  no  parallel  in  the  history  of  mankind,  and  at  last  on  the 
borders  of  the  land  where  they  were  to  practise  this  law, 
surrendered  their  government  to  another  leader.  And  in  that 
land,  while  the  sanctions  of  this  law  were  regarded,  the  people 
were  happy  and  glorious  ;  when  those  sanctions  were  spurned, 
ruin  and  dispersion  were  their  allotment. 

This  law  is  carried  out  in  all  its  breadth  and  spirit,  in  the 
sacred  Scriptures.  It  has  descended  from  the  wilderness  of 
Arabia,  through  all  the  changes  of  times  and  nations ;  never 
for  one  moment  deserting  the  land  which  it  first  governed, 
for  portions  of  it  are  still  read  and  taught  by  a  wretched  rem- 
nant amidst  the  ruins  of  the  cities  of  Palestine ;  but  it  has 
passed  from  thence  over  oceans  and  continents ;  inhabited  the 
cottage  of  the  peasant,  ascended  the  seats  of  power,  and  be- 


41 

come  the  foundation  of  the  codes  of  all  Christian  nations. 
Since  the  hour  of  its  promulgation,  Israel  has  risen  to  the 
greatness  of  glory  which  Solomon  possessed,  and  been  dis- 
persed in  every  land,  a  proverb  and  astonishment.     Nations 
have  flourished  and  fled  away  like  the  mists  of  the  morning, 
and  their  names  are  lost.     Imperial  cities,  and  the  monuments 
of  the  great  have  crumbled  and  been  swept  away  with  the 
hearth-stones  of  the  humble  ;  but  Horeb  still  stands  amidst 
the^desolations  of  the  wilderness,  an  evidence  of  the  presence  of 
the*  Author  of  this  law ;  and  this  law  has  continued  to  roll  on 
with  undecaying  power,  in  contempt  of  all  the  passions  and 
philosophy  and  infidelity  of  men.    Its  principles  are  still  found 
in  accordance  with  our  interests  and  happiness,  and  have 
their  home  in  the  inmost  depths  of  the  pure  in  heart.     And 
they  will  continue  to  spread,  until  the  islands,  the  oceans,  and 
the  continents  obey  ;  and  until  non  erit  alia  lex  Romae,  alia 
Athenis,  alia  nunc,  alia  post  hac,  sed  et  omnes  gentes,  et 
omni  tempore,  una  lex,  sempiturna  et  immortalis  continebit. 
Of  all  men,  American  scholars,  and  you  among  them,  ought 
not  to  be  ignorant  of  any  thing  which  this  book  contains.     If 
Cicero  could  declare  that  the  laws  of  the  twelve  tables  were 
worth  all  the  libraries  of  the  philosophers— if  they  were  the 
carmen  necessarium  of  the  Roman  youth,  how  laboriously, 
manu  nocturna  diurnaque  ought  you  to  investigate  its  con- 
tents, and  inscribe  them  upon  your  hearts.     You  owe  to  them 
the  blessed  civil  institutions  under  which  you  live,  and  the 
glorious  freedom  which  you  enjoy ;  and  if  these  are  to  be 
perpetuated,  it  can  only  be  by  a  regard  to  those  principles. 
Civil  and  religious  liberty  is  more  indebted  to  Luther  and 
Calvin,  and  their  compeers  of  the  Reformation,  and  to  the 
Puritans  and  Protestants  of  England,  and  the  Huegonots  of 
France,  than  to  any  other  men  who  ever  lived  in  the  annals 
of  time.     They  led  the  way  to  that  freedom  and  firmness, 
and  independence  of  thought  and  investigation,  and  the  adop- 
tion of  these  principles,  as  the  guide  in  social  government,  as 
well  as  private  actions,  which  created  a  personal  self-respect 


42 

and  firmness  in  its  defence,  which  conducted  us  to  a  sense  of 
equal  rights  and  privileges,  and  eventually  to  the  adoption  of 
free  written  constitutions  as  the  limitation  of  power.  Be  you 
imitators  of  them.  Make  your  scholarship  subservient  to  the 
support  of  the  same  unchanging  principles.  They  are  as 
necessary  now  as  they  ever  were,  to  the  salvation  of  your 
country  and  all  that  is  dear  to  your  hopes.  The  world  is  yet 
to  be  proselyted  to  them.  Religion  and  liberty  must  go  hand 
in  hand,  or  America  cannot  be  established ;  the  bondage  of 
the  European  man  broken;  Africa  enlightened  and  Asia 
regenerated.  And  even  here,  we  are  not  without  peril.  Look 
abroad  ;  are  not  the  pillars  of  our  edifice  shaken  ?  Is  not  law 
disregarded  ?  Are  not  moral  and  social  principles  weakened  ? 
Are  not  the  wretched  advocates  of  infidelity  busy  7  The  sun 
has  indeed  risen  upon  our  mountain-tops,  but  it  has  not  yet 
scattered  the  damps  and  the  darkness  of  the  valleys.  The 
passions  are  roused  and  misled.  Ancient  institutions  are 
scorned.  Our  refuge  is  in  the  firm  purpose  of  educated  and 
moral  men.  Draw  then  your  rules  of  action  from  the  only 
safe  authority.  Hang  your  banner  on  their  outer  wall.  Stand 
by  them  in  trial  and  in  triumph.  Dare  to  maintain  them  in 
every  position  and  in  every  vicissitude  ;  and  make  your  ap- 
peal to  the  source  from  which  they  are  drawn.  And  then 
come  what  may,  contempt  or  fame,  you  cannot  fall ;  and  your 
progress,  at  every  step  will  be  greeted  by  the  benedictions  of 
the  wise  and  good— SALVETE— SAL VETE. 


•W3ZTTT   HH 

05-12-B5  32180     MS 


LB2325 .L77 

Obituary  addresses  delivered  on  the 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1       1    1012  00085  2162 


